Bakery Amour (2001)
Reviewed by: mejones on 2002-03-21
Summary: VERY enjoyable!
Francis plays a bit of a fish out of water, top man (chief) of his small Hakka village now living in the big city with dreams of becoming a private detective. He moves in with his nephew, William So, who lives upstairs from Michelle Reis. William and Michelle have been pen-pals for years and all of their interactions were very cute, such as grocery shopping where he buys jars of baby food explaining that since he was deprived of them as a child he's making up for lost time! Both William and Francis are a bit quirky in this movie but strike you as the kind of people who are completely genuine, honest and good hearted. When Francis comes upon a tin of letters left by the former tenant he reads them, realizing they were mailed to one "Lok To" from her boyfriend Gala in Paris. At this point he doesn't know that "Lot To" is his neighbor which causes some embarassment when he figures it out. But what to do about the letters? Especially now that he's read them all? Detective wannabe that he is, Francis concocts a plan to reunite the lovers. Since Gala is due to return to Hong Kong any day now, he'll be sure to stop by the old bakery where he and Lok To used to work. Problem being, the bakery is closed and she is unemployed. No problem, Uncle Jet (as he's called) will buy the bakery, hire Michelle, proceed to make her white loaf famous and that way, when Gala returns, he's bound to be reunited with her.

As any film goer will realize, OF COURSE Francis' plan will work, but only with the hitch that he falls for Michelle in the process! How will this complicated love... well, it's far more than a TRIANGLE as it evolves... work out? If you haven't already seen it, I'm not telling! I will mentioned that while it's a really great little film, it DOES go astray a bit in the middle when the shift focuses to the return of Gala and his relationships with both Michelle AND Stephanie Che! I suppose, though, that one might look at this as a study in contrast between his slimy character and the upstanding Francis (along with William, the sidekick!). Highly recommended.